What to do in family emergency situations?
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Two weeks ago at the beginning of my shift when I was passing meds, my husband called crying because his Dad coded twice in a hospital and was transfered to ICU. He wanted me to come up immidietely... Read More

Sep 29, '12

I had a family emergency some years ago and had to wait 10 hours for change of shift to go be with my family, who were very angry with me for not being there earlier during the crisis, and to this day bring it up from time to time. I, too, was unhappy about it then, but it could not be helped. It is not uncommon; is just is what it is.

I had a family emergency some years ago and had to wait 10 hours for change of shift to go be with my family, who were very angry with me for not being there earlier during the crisis, and to this day bring it up from time to time. I, too, was unhappy about it then, but it could not be helped. It is not uncommon; is just is what it is.

I think it can and should be helped, especially with larger facilities.

Staff members are going to have true family and personal emergencies from time to time. We aren't exempt from life because of the job we do.

The specific nature and times of the emergencies are of course not known. "Known unknowns" is the term used. Murphy, who never sleeps, dictates that they will occur at the worst possible times. Still, their existence is known, and should be planned for.

When emergencies occur, there should be a set of steps to take, laid out in advance in a procedure to follow. For instance, charge nurse takes over patients while supervisor on duty takes over charge duties and looks for replacement for remainder of shift.

Every facility has emergency procedures for known unknowns of fires, weather, etc. Why not for staff emergencies?

Sep 30, '12

What is and what should be are rarely the same. One can advocate for policies in advance of such situations, lobby for change, but quitting after the fact serves no useful purpose.

Sep 30, '12

Quote from Hurleygrly137, RN

That's awesome that there is amazing teamwork on some units to divide and take over the pts of the nurse in crisis. However, in California, we have staffing ratios and it is absolutely ILLEGAL to have more pt's than ratio allows. I would NEVER do this unless i had empty beds, nor would anyone expect anyone else to do this. We had an RN that had to leave d/t illness and the Charge RN immediately took over until they were able to get someone from the night shift to come in early and take over.

That's unfortunate and taking the letter of the law to the extreme. What does it hurt to take an extra pt in an emergency situation? Very sad. A few months back, we had a nurse leave after her son was brought into the ER via ambulance. Another nurse was coming, but we divided up her pts so that she didn't have to wait. Humanity should trump legalities anytime.

That's unfortunate and taking the letter of the law to the extreme. What does it hurt to take an extra pt in an emergency situation?

Because unfortunately, you give an inch, they'll take a mile. A nurse currently on duty's son in the ED will turn into "A nurse called in sick, so we couldn't staff appropriately."

Oct 1, '12

I am very sorry for your family's loss. I do not think that getting to leave 45 minutes after the supervisor got notice if your situation is excessive, I actually think that is pretty swift considering that your pts had to have coverage and accomodations for your absence needed to be made.

Oct 1, '12

That's crappy. We just went through that a couple of days ago. One of my coworkers got the call that an ill family member had been hospitalized and she lwas let go immediately.Our charge nurse left the desk and took over her assignment for the rest of the shift. Our CN has done the same thing before.

Oct 7, '12

When my grandmother (whose b-day is today) Died in December, it was in the hospital where my mom and aunt work. My other aunt (also a nurse) flew into town to spend the previous days with g-ma while my mom and aunt worked. The morning she died, my mom and aunt who were scheduled to work visited her before their shifts. They were there to hold her hands and cradle her head before she passed. The charge nurses let my mom and aunt go for bereavement, no questions asked. I think the compassion and understanding this particular hospital is amazing. Everytime gma was in hospital, they were able to get coverage. I am not done with school yet but I am trying very hard to get a job here as soon as I graduate because I hear this place treats their nurses very well.

So sorry for you loss OP, I can understand the anger. I am angry with myself for not being at the hospital when my grandma died.

Every facility has emergency procedures for known unknowns of fires, weather, etc. Why not for staff emergencies?

Exactly.

Oct 8, '12

I am SO sorry for your loss. I had a similar situation some time ago. The charge nurse redivided my load and I was pretty well caught up, but she was like "well, can u do a little of this stuff early before u leave, are u sure u can't stay a little while longer?" ect.

I had to chase 1 nurse down that was actually hiding from me to not get report. It does happen more often than it should, but I'd hate for u to quit now, may be good to give them a little longer. Hugs to u!

Anne, RNC

Oct 8, '12

When my father had to have emergency surgery, I agonized over finishing my shift or leaving. My family tried to downplay how serious the situation was because they knew that if they told me, I would've left right away, and they were concerned about me losing my job. I talked to my charge nurse (at my hospital the charge nurses have their own assignments), and she told me to leave. She said if it were her father she would leave, no questions asked, so she couldn't expect me to stay. I gave her my report sheets and told them to call my cell phone if they had any questions. I was so grateful for their compassion, and got there just as my dad was getting out of surgery.

Oct 8, '12

I will completely honest. If it was a true emergency with my daughter or father, I would be gone in a hot second. Luckily, I know my coworkers would just pick up where I left off and something they couldn't figure out, they would call me about.I would risk my license and job for the 2 people I live for.

Oct 9, '12

I'm so sorry for you loss and that you are having to deal with work issues on top of that. While it's too late for your situation, I think there is a huge opportunity for improvement on your unit. Perhaps you can use this as "I don't want ANYONE else to have to go through what I did. How can we fix this?" It's unfortunate and sad that you were not able to leave immediately but it sounds like no one quite knew what to do. Given a little planning and preparation, this should be fixable. Where I work, we can leave within 5 minutes if need be. We give a quick report to a co-worker and everyone readjusts their workload. The staff member that needs to leave, goes. We either cover and try to call in replacement staff. Part of what makes this work so well is that people have never abused it and only do this in a genuine emergency.

As others have said, I would hold off making any huge decisions until you have had a chance to grieve.